When Daniel Klein goes to the dentist for a regular check-up, he is informed that he needs a section of his lower teeth removed and replaced with either a denture plate or implants. The implants would require frequent trips to the dentist over the course of a year, a lot of money and a lot of pain. The denture plate on the other hand would leave Klein with the unmistakable clunky smile of an old man.
Though Klein initially opts for the implants, he soon questions his decision. Is it better to a spend a precious year trying to extend the prime of his life, or to live an authentic old age, toothless grin and all? Klein decided the answer lay in a place where people seemed to know the secret to a long, happy and healthy life - Greece. He travels there with a library of his favourite philosophers and observes other septuagenarians and octogenarians, and contemplates his own life, particularly seeking out wisdom from renowned hedonist Epicurus. From that journey comes this sincere and humorous book on ageing and an Epicurean way of living.
I love this little book! Apart from offering very age-appropriate advice, it reminds me of Greece and the island of Hydra, of George Johnston and his family on Hydra, of sunkissed days and warm nights drinking retsina and listening to bouzouki music. It all comes back to me now!
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Aegean islanders like to tell a joke about a properous Greek American who visits one of the islands on vacation. Out on a walk, the affluent Greek American comes upon an old Greek man sitting on a rock, sipping a glass of ouzo, and lazily staring at the sun setting into the sea. The American notices there are olive trees growing on the hills behind the old Greek but that they are untended, with olives just dropping here and there onto the ground. He asks the old man who the trees belong to. "They're mine", the Greek replies. "Don't you gather the olives?" the American asks. "I just pick one when I want one", the old man says. "But don't you realise that if you pruned the trees and picked the olives at their peak, you could sell them? In America everybody is crazy about virgin olive oil, and they pay a damned good price for it." "What would I do with the money?" the old Greeks asks. "Why, you could build yourself a big house and hire servants to do everything for you." "And then what would I do?" "You could do anything you want!" "You mean, like sit outside and sip ouzo at sunset?"
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Joseph Coté hasn't got the best reading voice (and he only reads the Prologue and Chapter One), but in the absence of anything better --- the online copy of "Travels with Epicurus" I could find is in French; click here ) -- - it will have to do until I can lend my friend in Canberra my much-read and much-loved copy when we meet again over a coffee.
(My BHP shares have gone up by more than two dollars since our last meeting at the club on the 21st July, Roman, so it'll be my shout! 😀 )
P.S. I've since then bought a few thousand shares in the lithium hotshot Pilbara Minerals - the very same shares I had recommended to a bloke who was going to cut my grass but then discovered that he can make more money by spending a few minutes pressing the 'BUY' and 'SELL' buttons on the CommSec screen (which I had shown him how to use) instead of sitting for hours on a ride-on mower - and notched up a few extra dollars, so that coffee may come with a piece of cheesecake!
